A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

[JanH]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Cheers and applause for Bookie!

[Broken Arrow]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Hehehe. Congrats, Bookie. You stinker.

My day isn't over yet, but I really don't foresee any problems and should come out with a no-spend. Nothing really interesting to report though, except that I had a couple of sandwiches at work. Leftovers from a meeting. I love meetings. Well, I love it when they have meetings.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Going on my third day of no chocolate, and finally getting online after crappy connection and then none...(which is why I am not replying ot the emails..)

I also have a hangover...

but I managed to convice DH not to buy milk for 3 days..or chocoalte..so though we did the spending we were planning on, we also made it all they way to err what is today, it feels like eternity when I go without chocoalte....

[tinapbeana]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Going on my third day of no chocolate, and finally getting online after crappy connection and then none...(which is why I am not replying ot the emails..)

I also have a hangover...

but I managed to convice DH not to buy milk for 3 days..or chocoalte..so though we did the spending we were planning on, we also made it all they way to err what is today, it feels like eternity when I go without chocoalte....

ACK!!! no chocolate?!?? 13: keep chocolate chips or a bag of M&M's baking minis on hand for the next no-spend: there are few things worse in life than craving chocolate and not having any!!

[Bookie]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Wednesday -- Day 8 of the extended Challenge

Yesterday closed the week on my original Challenge. I could have stood down with honor. Instead, I continue, trudging the rocky road of radical frugality. Why do I do it? For glory? For adventure? No, it's for money. I want to add last week's overtime to my Challenge stash, and to do that I need to hold out until payday. Naked greed propels me onward, but at what cost?

Lunch was a blast from the past, the tattered remnants of Saturday's chicken warmed in the dregs of Sunday's Alfredo sauce. Even the rice seemed vaguely familiar. I guess that's expected with "make-overs," which, I'm informed, is the proper term for recycled cooking. Still, it saw me through today, but when I look toward tomorrow . . . what?

In my largely vacant refrigerator the light seems abnormally bright. A lone pickle sourly awaits its rendezvous with destiny. Half a dozen eggs huddle anxiously together. I wonder if the catsup knows that in the Reagan era it was considered a vegetable? Or that Richard Nixon's customary lunch called for catsup on his cottage cheese? No, better not to go there. A lack of food plays strange tricks on the mind.

Curious how I obsess about the kitchen during a Challenge. Primitive survival instincts coming into play, I suppose. The No-Spend Challenge strips life down to the fundamentals. The illusions of convenience store comfort, and five-and-dime solutions collapse in the absence of spending. I'm thrown back upon my own resources with not even a sheltering credit card, and around me night falls.

[lrjohnson]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

We've still spent $40 bucks on groceries on 5 weeks, so that's good. Lots of pantry clean up.

I did spent $4 discretionary money. "Soup at Work" put on by the office recreation fund: $3 for homemade soup and bread, benefits employees. (I work for the government....nothing is provided by taxpayer funds, so the rec fund goes towards our microwaves, friedge, etc.) $1 for the rec fund raffle.

I either spent $1.50 or saved $7, depending how you look at it...a group of us draw names each Survivor...the person who ends up with the winner has lunch bought for them. I decided not to go out to lunch (another lunch date this week, trying to be restrained) but I did pitch in my already obligated contribution for the winner's lunch.

That means I've had less than $8 discretionary spent ($1.75 on garage sales Sat. in addition to above), and have avoided a grocery re-stock despite emptier cupboards.

So overall, I've felt like I've been restrained even if not following to the letter.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

In my largely vacant refrigerator the light seems abnormally bright. A lone pickle sourly awaits its rendezvous with destiny. Half a dozen eggs huddle anxiously together. I wonder if the catsup knows that in the Reagan era it was considered a vegetable? Or that Richard Nixon's customary lunch called for catsup on his cottage cheese? No, better not to go there. A lack of food plays strange tricks on the mind.

HILARITY!

[tinapbeana]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

bookie, sounds like you might need some sugar!

[Bookie]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

bookie, sounds like you might need some sugar!

Nope. Got sugar. Pantry inventory page 3 - "Sugar, table - 2 lbs, Sugar, brown - 1 box." Got sugar.


No one appreciates a bad Mickey Spillane parody. Obviously.

Hey, I'm using someone else's style instead of spending the effort to develop my own. How frugal is that?

[JanH]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Can half the family be no-spend? For some crazy reason--probably the monsoon we've been having here--I haven't been out to buy any groceries or anything. I didn't realize that it has been almost a week. I know Hubby has had to buy gas and he went out of town last weekend, so I know he bought some food. But I've just been hanging about doing my thing.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Bookie, I love reading your no spend escapades!

Jan, course you can go for half..you get to write the rules!

[JanH]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Gotta love a game where you write your own rules....

[Bookie]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Heads up, everybody!

Math Quiz: If 6 of the buns in a newly opened package are flecked with mold on the bottom, what are the odds that the 2 buns I ate for lunch were mold-free?

Extra Credit Question: What percentage of the American populace sickened and died from eating moldy bread in the past 12 months?


.

[tinapbeana]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Heads up, everybody!

Math Quiz: If 6 of the buns in a newly opened package are flecked with mold on the bottom, what are the odds that the 2 buns I ate for lunch were mold-free?

Extra Credit Question: What percentage of the American populace sickened and died from eating moldy bread in the past 12 months?


.

Quiz: Chances are not good
Extra Credit: Hey, if I didn't die from a slightly moldy blueberry doughnut, you should be fine after the bread

[Broken Arrow]

Re: A No-Warning/No-Spend challenge!

Interesting question, Bookie. I unfortunately do not know, except that I hope you've been stocking up some TP.

On a vaguely related note, when I was out grocery shopping last week, I saw the most amazing thing: Hot dog buns that came in different counts per bag! Prior to that little bit of revelation, I had often muttered unkind words under my breath, chiding the need for these companies to re-allocate their fundings from their marketing departments to hire more mathematicians.

Now, I know that when it comes to grocery shopping, I've been living under the proverbial, prehistoric rock. So, I don't know how long they've been doing this. But when I saw that you can finally buy the exact count of hot dog buns to match the number of hot dogs links in a pack, it was as though the powers that be has beamed an approving nod to this lowly peon.

Since I'm here, I might as well report in on day 7 of my own challenge. I had to spend some money today. The gas in my car was nearly empty. Well, perhaps I could have held it off for another day, but I just don't like to chance it. Besides that, it would have been another no-spend day.

I do have some small ruminations about this challenge, but I like to give it some more thought before I share it.